Reaction: Dirty Plays or Defying Directives?

The following is a reaction to the video found at this URL, and to many others like it:

🔗 https://youtube.com/shorts/OV_TLwoMYPs?si=vT1h5MqJ1r3UyulE

(For those who are unable to view the video, allow me to describe it. This short clip—formatted as a YouTube Short—captures a play during a softball game where multiple athletes engage in clearly intentional and dangerous behavior.

The context is this: after a batter hits the ball deep to the centerfield fence, instead of making a conventional play, the infielders strategically position themselves along the base paths to physically obstruct the advancing runner. This isn’t a spontaneous play; it’s a coordinated maneuver. What’s worse, it’s executed in an aggressive—some might even say violent—manner.

There was no apparent provocation. Nothing about the preceding moments in the game suggested tension or escalation. Even if there’s some unseen context, the disturbing reality remains: the conduct in this video was reckless, unnecessary, and, frankly, uncalled for.)

Let’s begin.

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Agh! THIS is exactly how promising athletic careers end in a flash—how bones break, concussions happen, and futures are derailed. It’s ruthless. It’s unsportsmanlike. And it’s entirely inexcusable.

This isn’t just “playing hard.” This is playing dirty. This kind of behavior is precisely what earns players hefty fines in professional sports—sometimes exceeding $50,000—for flagrant fouls, unsportsmanlike conduct, or unnecessary roughness. In many leagues, similar acts result in ejections, suspensions, and long-term consequences not just for the players, but for the integrity of the game itself.

What’s shown in this video isn’t skill. It isn’t strategy. It’s sabotage. And it’s shameful.

This isn’t teaching athletes how to compete with honor—it’s teaching them how to cheat. It’s giving them an education in hostility, spite, and dishonor. It encourages behavior that earns enemies instead of respect. It fosters environments where contempt and hatred are not only expected, but celebrated. And that… is abhorrent.

What happened to sportsmanship? What happened to playing fair? What happened to letting skill, preparation, and hard work speak for themselves?

It doesn’t make your team stronger. It doesn’t make your teammates better. It certainly doesn’t build character. In fact, this behavior should be illegal at every level of play where athlete safety is supposed to be a priority—from little league to college to the pros.

As my coaches have always said:

“Cheaters never win.”

“Win fair, or lose fair.”

“Doing your best will best the rest.”

“Success isn’t earned by winning, but by hard work and long hours.”

“Practice equals performance.”

“The way you practice is the way you’ll play.”

Coaches who encourage this kind of behavior aren’t just irresponsible—they’re dangerous. They’re inviting injury. They’re inviting lawsuits. They are leading young athletes—many of them students, many of them teenagers still forming their moral compass—down a path that could cost them scholarships, careers, or worse.

And these are real people we’re talking about. Real students with real lives, real hopes, and real futures. They trust their coaches, believing they’re being led by experience and wisdom—only to find that they’ve been manipulated into risking their health and integrity for a cheap victory.

It’s disgraceful. Truly and utterly disgraceful.

Just imagine—what if even one of those young women had the courage to stand up and say:

“Coach, I won’t do it. I won’t play dirty. Winning isn’t worth compromising our character or our values. We’re not here to create enemies—we’re here to play, to grow, to get better, and to uplift one another. With all due respect, we will not participate in hurting our opponents just to win a game. They’re our peers, not our enemies. Let the best players win—fairly. Now teach us to be the best, or step aside and let someone else do it.”

That’s what the world needs. People with the courage to stand for what is right—even when it costs them. People brave enough to say “no” to corrupt authority, no matter how loud the pressure, how high the stakes, or how lonely the path.

Because at the end of the day, what good is it to win the world’s approval… if you have to forfeit your soul to do it?

“Do unto others only that which you would desire be done unto you.”

Let us never forget: the true test of a competitor is not how hard they fight to win, but how well they hold onto their integrity in the midst of the battle.